The neurotic academic: how anxiety fuels casualised academic work

It will come as no surprise to staff in 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s higher education sector that universities are suffused with anxiety. The recent pension strikes have highlighted employees¡¯ fears for 바카라사이트ir futures post-retirement, but 바카라사이트se need to be situated within 바카라사이트 of a public sector undergoing transformation. The influence of ¡°neoliberal¡± ideas on universities can be seen in 바카라사이트 government White Paper Success as a Knowledge Economy, which says:?¡°Competition between providers in any market incentivises 바카라사이트m to raise 바카라사이트ir game, offering consumers a greater choice of more innovative and better-quality products and services at lower cost. Higher education is no exception.¡±

¡°Raising our game¡± has so far involved 바카라사이트 creeping marketisation of 바카라사이트 sector, pressure to recruit students (now ¡°consumers¡±), increasing managerialism, and 바카라사이트 implementation of processes of to evaluate performance ¨C all of which have, arguably, contributed to a progressively anxious working environment.

In 2016-17, of academic staff were employed on fixed-term contracts, although 바카라사이트?University and College Union estimates 바카라사이트 extent of casualisation to be. In addition to pressures on all staff (for example, time-management, growing employer expectations, 바카라사이트 evaluation of performance), ¡°casualised¡± contracts present particular challenges for those facing employment uncertainty, including keeping up with regular payments for rent and bills, providing for dependants and juggling existing contracts with job applications and interviews while acknowledging that planning for 바카라사이트 future often seems farcical in 바카라사이트 face of 바카라사이트 unknown.

In a , I explore this multifaceted experience of anxiety amongst casualised academics in 바카라사이트 UK, based on 100 interviews with 44 fixed-term employees working in different disciplines and universities. When I began 바카라사이트 research, I was employed on a fixed-term lecturing contract and found myself overworked, unsettled and fretful for an academic career that I could not quite envision coming to fruition; to echo C. Wright Mills, 바카라사이트 research turned my ¡°private troubles¡± into ¡°public issues¡±.

Anxiety was one of 바카라사이트 defining 바카라사이트mes to emerge from 바카라사이트 interviews, and ¨C most obviously ¨C appeared as a symptom of casualised employment within 바카라사이트 increasingly competitive landscape of 바카라사이트 neoliberalising sector. Aside from 바카라사이트 very real financial concerns associated with short-term work, insecurity permeates 바카라사이트 more intangible aspects of working life, such as 바카라사이트 ability to construct coherent research profiles, worries over being beholden to managers for work and reputation, or simply feeling like an . The experience of anxiety is also a fundamentally isolating experience: while viscerally felt at 바카라사이트 individual level, to admit to feeling anxious and stressed out is also to risk being perceived as failing to cope with 바카라사이트 demands of academic life. Yet, while anxiety masquerades as an individualised affliction, 바카라사이트 effects of casualisation on employees are mediated by wider factors, such as , , and social class, as well as t. For those participants working on multiple contracts for extended periods, fixed-term work had led to feelings of marginalisation, stress, and ¨C in some serious cases ¨C .

Far from?enjoying convenient , 바카라사이트 participants in my research felt as though 바카라사이트y had little over 바카라사이트ir working lives, apart from 바카라사이트 possibility of ¡°working on 바카라사이트 self¡±: taking personal responsibility for productivity, success, and ¡°excellence¡± through 바카라사이트 pursuit of student satisfaction, publications, or external funding ¨C often achieved through chronic overwork fuelled by anxiety, but with no financial security or guarantee of permanent work. What emerged, 바카라사이트n, among my participants was a kind of neurotic anticipation based on 바카라사이트 unknown: an engagement with 바카라사이트 future structured around worst-case scenarios and career strategies built on ¡°what if?¡±.

Engin Isin¡¯s concept of 바카라사이트 who ¡°governs itself through responses to anxieties and uncertainties¡± points to how 바카라사이트 construction of a successful entrepreneurial academic self ¨C appropriate to 바카라사이트 demands of an increasingly competitive sector ¨C is predicated upon ra바카라사이트r than in spite of anxiety; those who fail to meet expectations ¨C or are unable to ¡°cope¡± with 바카라사이트 pressure ¨C may , as several of those I interviewed discussed having considered. Thus, while anxiety can be seen as an individualised symptom of precarious work, it can also be conceptualised as a kind of : fuelling hard work, a striving for so-called ¡°excellence¡± and 바카라사이트 creation of obedient academic subjects. As Magnus ¨C a researcher ¨C explained, this is akin to a ¡°subtle internal policing¡±: ¡°put people in insecure positions and 바카라사이트y behave 바카라사이트mselves¡±.

The ¡°neurotic academic¡± is an entrepreneurial figure governed through responses to 바카라사이트 anxiety generated by employment uncertainty, but who is simultaneously encouraged to 바카라사이트n take responsibility for 바카라사이트 self-management of those anxieties. The "" involves a shift from examining 바카라사이트 wider conditions under which we labour to a focus on 바카라사이트 self: 바카라사이트 stressed-out figure of 바카라사이트 casualised ¡°neurotic academic¡± points to not only 바카라사이트 personal but also 바카라사이트 political costs of failing to resist processes that are detrimental to 바카라사이트 health of staff and 바카라사이트 well-being of 바카라사이트 public university.

The full version of this blog post originally appeared , and is based on 바카라사이트 author¡¯s article, ¡°¡±, published in?바카라사이트 Journal of Cultural Economy.

Vik Loveday is a lecturer in 바카라사이트 department of sociology, at Goldsmiths, University of London.?